The present invention relates to a key safe apparatus and, more particularly, to an apparatus for alternately retaining a selected one of a pair of keys upon the release of the other key until the other key is again disposed in a retained diposition.
In organizations having inventory items, such as automobiles or other vehicles, which are each individually accessed and/or operated by a dedicated key, there is an acute need to maintain the keys in an orderly and organized manner, preferably in a central location, so that members of the organization, such as sales people and the like, can reliably and readily locate a key to conduct test drives, offer product demonstrations and conduct other activities with the individually accessible inventory item. In this regard, experience has shown that the approach of merely providing a central keyboard or keybox in which the keys are collectively stored soon undermines the goal of maintaining the keys in a readily retrievable disposition. For example, several of the key users are invariably delinquent in returning the "borrowed" keys to the central keyboard or keybox. Likewise, the key users often find it convenient to borrow several keys at once, thereby depriving others of the opportunity to make use of the borrowed keys unless the multiple key borrower is identified and contacted to obtain the desired keys.
Accordingly, the need exists for an apparatus which insures that a desired key will not be released to a potential key user unless some means of identification, such as the potential key user's own key, is automatically retained in response to the borrowing of the desired key. Additionally, the need exists for an apparatus for selectively releasing and retaining keys which only releases the key user's identification means, such as the user's own keys, upon disposition of the borrowed key in a key retained position.